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I ordered a nuc from a local apiary back in March and picked it up when I was told it was ready a couple of weeks ago. When I brought it home and transferred the frames into my hive I didn't see much for capped brood, but I did it quickly without spending too much time to study the frames so I wouldn't upset the bees. A week later I opened the hive and again no brood, but I thought well maybe there's eggs and I just can't see them - I'll give them a chance. Went in again last night and no capped brood-I have also looked for the queen and cannot see one. Now maybe it is my fault for not inspecting the nuc when I picked it up but I thought I should be able to trust the supplier. Has anybody had this happen? I'm upset because the whole point of getting a nuc was to get all stages of brood to give the hive a head start as opposed to a package. Do I have any recourse? Sorry for being so wordy.

First, have you told the supplier? It may be he/she is willing to try to make this right. He may have a less experienced person helping him who messed up and maybe they are willing to make it right. The sooner you contact them the better. Of course if they don't want to make it right, you have the same recourse as everyone else. You can complain to everyone who might buy from them you can take them to small claims court, you can feel sorry for your self. All are your right. Some are more productive.

Also, how did you find out about this supplier? What did you know about them before you ordered your nuc? You have every right to spread the news, the BAD news, to everyone you know and everyone who is willing to listen about your experience with them if they aren't willing to reconcile the problem. Word of mouth can absolutly kill the business a local supplier! However, they might be a totally great supplier and you just happened to have a bad experience, anyway, hope it works out for you.

I heard about the supplier through my local bee club as the order was being placed through the club. I actually did talk to the supplier and they were very apologetic and luckily still had a couple of extra nucs that they offered to swap one for my bad nuc. I just picked it up last night so hopefully this one is much better and all is well-just a little bit later start than I had hoped.

I bought two nucs earlier this spring and before the supplier would allow me to take them, he went through the hive and made sure there was a queen present. I was a bit surprised he took the time to do this, since he had other people there also getting nucs. Now I understand why he took the time.